Innovation inspiration: Some finalists from the 2015 Innovation Awards to whet your appetite

Sometimes the grind of business can make us forget what we’re actually achieving. The NZ Innovation Awards are an opportunity to sit back, think about what's been accomplished and hand out some good ol’ high fives!

If you're an innovator, it's a chance to share your work with other innovators who understand the toll it takes to get as far as you have.

Here are nine of last year's finalists for inspiration:

Karma Cola – Food & Beverage

The philosophy behind Karma Cola is to connect cola lovers with cola farmers and do some good. Karma Cola is the first Fairtrade organic cola that has a direct and transparent relationship with cola farmers in Boma in Sierra Leone, helping them rebuild their war-torn communities through the Karma Cola Foundation.

GRO HUSH – Design & Engineering

The magic mitten is a patented baby calming aid that has proven highly effective in calming upset babies, utilising white noise delivered to baby at a fixed, safe decibel level that only they can hear. Highly portable, can be used anywhere, anytime, at home or out and about.

Hivemind – Agribusiness & Environment

Hivemind's purpose is to help beekeepers have more productive and sustainable operations. In 2014 they designed and manufactured an innovative new wireless hive scale, with voice annunciation, that communicates via satellite back to a secure database. This allows beekeepers to log in to a secure web page to see the weights of their hives, and ambient temperature at their remote apiaries which gives them several benefits.

Tiro Lifesciences, Zero Radiation Breast Screening – Health & Science

Tiro Lifesciences is a medical device company that combines leading edge physiological modelling with the latest digital sensing technologies. We create products that facilitate screening, monitoring and diagnosis of patients, whilst improving care and reducing healthcare expenditure.

ShipIT – Financial & Professional Services

ShipIT is the ultimate cloud based app designed to simplify and automate the process of delivering online and offline orders. ShipIT integrates with 25+ eCommerce, accounting and inventory management systems and all the major courier companies in NZ and Australia and DHL globally. This integration enables businesses to grow both domestically and internationally by automating the manual and labour intensive process of fulfillment.

Shuttlerock – Information Communications Technology & Cloud

Shuttlerock is a SAAS platform that allows brands to harness the power of user generated content (UGC) across a range of paid, owned and earned media channels. UGC helps all brands with their message, but up until now it’s been hard to gather such content on an always-on basis.

Network for Learning – Marketing & Communications

Pond is an online learning hub where teachers go to discover and share learning resources, as well as connect and collaborate with their peers. The environment is designed to act as a central hub for digital discovery and participation, where educational resources can be accessed and shared more easily and effectively. Pond makes learning resources more accessible and fosters collaboration among educators, enabling them to have an impact beyond their school walls, so they can share their expertise, best-practices, and resources with the wider sector.

Network for Learning – Marketing & Communications

Pond is an online learning hub where teachers go to discover and share learning resources, as well as connect and collaborate with their peers. The environment is designed to act as a central hub for digital discovery and participation, where educational resources can be accessed and shared more easily and effectively. Pond makes learning resources more accessible and fosters collaboration among educators, enabling them to have an impact beyond their school walls, so they can share their expertise, best-practices, and resources with the wider sector.

Sunergise – Suatainability & Cleantech

Sunergise provides cleaner, more affordable power, for NO capital down. We aim to help people go solar sooner, and to change behaviour around saving energy. Our vision is for New Zealand to be the first developed nation to be 100% renewably powered. The key market drivers for Sunergise are to provide more affordable, cleaner power, to offer first-class customer service, and to empower people to understand and manage their own energy choices.